"For quiet some time now we have been running from door-to-door to get the Pollution Control Board clearance for this Rs 1,025-crore project. Assurances are a plenty but nothing concrete has come up till now. However, we are hopeful that the state government, considering the amount of investment that has gone into the project, should take some positive decision soon," TEC's RP Sabberwal told The Financial Express.

The Pollution Control Board, Patna, which has objected to any construction by the TEC before the acquirement of land, is yet to receive the application which was moved by the TEC for the grant of land near Ghorabanda. Sources in the Pollution Control Board said, "We are still waiting for the application."

TEC plans touse the 430 acres of land near Ghorabanda as a disposal ground for ash to be emitted by the proposed power project to the tune of 0.34 million tonnes a year.

"We are developing a technology called the `sandwich technique', by which emission of ash from the thermal power plant will not be more than 50 parts per million (ppm), as against the standardised national norm of 150 ppm," Sabberwal said.

The project may be commissioned by December, 2000, provided it gets a go-ahead now. TEC's deputy general manager (projects) K Chandrashekhar wondered as to why India could not adopt the Pakistan model. He told The Financial Express that in Pakistan a project gets all government clearances before it is actually floated as a tender; and that the lowest bidder on power tariff gets the project.

The Bihar State Electricity Board plants are in the red and are producing hardly 400mw of power against the total installed capacity of 1996mw as on March 31, 1997. "The plant load factor of the BSEB plants average around 8per cent only," BSEB's KP Sinha said.

Meanwhile the 67.5mw power plant that was established by TEC at Jojobera near Telco at a cost of Rs 300 crore has clocked an average PLF of 95.94 per cent (one of the highest in the country) against the all-India average PLF of 65 per cent.

The 2x120mw Jojobera power plant has been planned keeping in view the rise in power demand in this part of the state in the coming years.

A confident Sabberwal, highlighting the capabilities of the TEC said, "Let BSEB as a test case give us any of its thermal power plants on a 15-year contract. We should be given the operational and management rights without any hindrances and we promise to raise their PLF from 8 per cent today to at least 90 per cent PLF in the next two years."

The TEC alone supplies 150mw of power to the Mumbai suburban railways. It caters to the needs of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre along with other renowned organisations.

While the Bihar government clearance to the power project is still awaited, TEChas already placed its order with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd for supply of main equipment for its proposed power plants.

"We also plan to meet the total projected load of Jamshedpur. We will also be able to supply quality power to the Adityapur industrial estate provided BSEB agrees to it," Sabberwal said.

As far as the power scenario in Bihar is concerned, the state has generated only about two billion units at its facilities in 1996-97. In the same period, it purchased about 7.4 million units from the central utilities and other states. However, the peak hours shortage still remained at 48 per cent in 1996-97 and the normal energy shortage in the same period was estimated at 28 per cent.

The Central Electricity Authority has projected a peak demand of 2,186mw for Bihar in 2001-2002 and 3,186mw in 2006-2007. "With the BSEB in shambles and incurring a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore, it will be very difficult for us to meet such a demand within such a short span of time", a BSEB source said.

The newpower projects in Bihar are--Nabinagar (2000mw, thermal, PGCIL), Karanpura (2000mw, NTPC), Koel Karo (710mw, hydel, NHPC), Tenughat Extension (630mw, thermal, TNVL), Chandil (500mw, thermal, BSEB), Muzzafarpur Extension (500mw, thermal, BSEB), Jojobera (308mw), Shankh (220mw, hydel, BSEB), North Koel (24mw, hydel, BSEB), Eastern Gandak (15mw, hydel, BSEB) and Chandil (8mw, hydel, BSEB).